Month: May 2016

According to the U.S. Department of Labor American Time Use report, in 2014 women spent an average of 6 minutes or more reading for pleasure than men. People aged 75 and older recorded the most amount of time reading by far — an average 61.2─67 minutes per day. People aged 15─19 and 25─44 read the least, an average 5.4─11.4 minutes a day. In a breakdown by race, Whites reported leisure reading three and a half times more than Hispanics or Latinos. The latter spent the least amount of time reading for personal interest, 5.4 minutes on weekdays and 6 minutes on weekends. Unemployed people read three times more during the week and twice more on weekends than readers who worked. On average, individuals with a Bachelor’s degree or higher devoted 25.8─30 minutes reading for leisure — two and a half times more than someone with less than a high school diploma.

The graph below presents a profile of time spent on weekday and weekend leisure reading by demographic and socio-economic characteristics.